Tuesday, July 16, 2013

New from Centipede Press - WILLIAM PETER BLATTY

SYNOPSIS

A scathing modern fable that chronicles the descent of an acclaimed auteur and a Hollywood screenwriter caught in his own private hell. This novel draws on Blatty’s own experiences in Hollywood during the writing and filming of such acclaimed movies as The Exorcist. Blatty takes no prisoners in this fable of towering ambition, cross and doublecross.Demons Five, Exorcists Nothing is here published with the preferred text by Blatty, incorporating dozens of revisions and amendments. Jacob McMurray designed the dustjacket.SYNOPSISWilliam Peter Blatty has thrilled generations of readers with his iconic international bestsellerThe Exorcist.Now Blatty gives usDimiter, a riveting story of murder, revenge, and suspense. Laced with themes of faith and love, sin and forgiveness, vengeance and compassion, it is a novel in the grand tradition of Morris West’sThe Devil’s Advocate, and the Catholic novels of Graham Greene.Dimiter opens in the world’s most oppressive and isolated totalitarian state: Albania in the 1970s. A prisoner suspected of being an enemy agent is held by state security. An unsettling presence, he maintains an eerie silence though subjected to unimaginable torture. He escapes, and, on the way to freedom, completes a mysterious mission. The prisoner is Dimiter, the American agent from hell. The scene shifts to Jerusalem, focusing on Hadassah Hospital and a cast of unusual characters. All become enmeshed in a series of baffling, inexplicable deaths, until events explode in a surprising climax. Told with unrelenting pace, Dimiter’s compelling, page-turning narrative is haunted by the search for faith and the truths of the human condition. William Peter Blatty, the writer of numerous novels and screenplays, is best known for his internationally bestselling novel The Exorcist, deemed by the New York Times Book Reviewto be as superior to most books of its kind as an Einstein equation is to an accountant’s column of figures. An Academy Award winner for his screenplay for The Exorcist, Blatty is not only the author of one of the most terrifying novels ever written, but, paradoxically, also co-wrote the screenplay for the hilarious Inspector Clouseau film, A Shot in the Dark. New York Times reviewers of his early comic novels noted, Nobody can write funnier lines than William Peter Blatty, describing him as a gifted virtuoso who writes like S. J. Perelman. Blatty lives with his wife and a son in Maryland.

1 comment:

Thanks for writing about these two books by William Peter Blatty. I recall reading his books, including THE EXORCIST, many years ago, though a chance find last year introduced me to THE NINTH CONFIGURATION originally published as TWINKLE, TWINKLE, “KILLER” KANE! a psycho-thriller.